Driven by a common consciousness for social change and a deep commitment towards the environmental cause, the “Green house club” launches its fundraising campaign to set water fountains on campus. While the quantity of plastic waste was in a drastic increase during the past years, the emergence of this global pandemic did not make the situation any better. A simple look at the overfilled garbage bins on campus is enough to highlight the urgency to implement more green alternatives.
Due to the unavailability of in-place food consumption options during the current semester, the usage of food packaging increased. Moreover, an increase in plastic was observed since students buy a lot of water bottles. Therefore, the “Green house” club conducted a list of surveys in order to analyze the usage of plastic water bottles and the student body’s willingness to switch to more sustainable options.
In fact, the results indicated that forty percent of the three hundred students that took the survey buy more than 7 bottles a week. The number of plastic water bottles used weekly is equivalent to 1632, a number that represents severe repercussions on the surrounding ecosystem and environment. Therefore, the installation of water fountains is believed to have a positive environmental, financial, and sanitary impact locally and globally.
Water fountains, a thriving project for a thriving community
Adopting a green campus has always been among AUI’s top priorities. Striving for academic excellence and campus life goes in line with the advancement of growth and sustainability ventures. While the university adopted ways to reduce energy conception through the use of sustainable energies, the Green House club took the initiative to start a student lead campaign towards the enhancement of a more sustainable campus.
Reda El Makroum, the current president of the Green house club at Al Akhawayn University, explains the fine points of such an initiative. In fact, the project saw light during Fall 2019 when he became president of the Green House club. They were constantly looking for ways to have a positive impact on campus and raise awareness about the environmental issues that Morocco and the world are facing. “The most compelling idea that we found was the installation of water fountains on campus. The project seemed realistic to us since every American university had it and some went as far as banning plastic water bottles on campus.”, he explains.
The impact of this project can be as big as protecting the existence of sea turtle due to the reduction of plastic in the sea and as small as inciting you to stay hydrated while saving your money
Reda El Makroum, President of the Green House club
The project saw the contribution of last year’s presidential interns, some SGA members, and AUI students that were in exchange who campaigned for the project. The proposal that was drafted and presented to the university administration attracted the interest and support of all the AUI community, including faculty, students, and DSA. The current objective of this project is to have ten water fountains dispersed all over campus, in the Academic area, athletic area, and restaurants.
The fundraising campaign started on the 23rd of November. People will be able to donate either using their cash wallet or bank transfer. For faculty and staff, they can donate with days of salary. An update will be sent regularly to students to update them on the amount collected. The amount that the club is aiming for is 150 000 MAD. The amount includes the price of ten water fountains and their maintenance.
Water fountains: three important pillars
This project has three positive impacts on the AUI community.
Environmentally
It is time to take the future of our planet into our hands. AUI students must be up to the challenge when it comes to being socially aware of the risks that plastic bottles have on our surrounding environment. Plastic bottles normally end up at the bottom of the ocean or they are eaten by animals and species. Moreover, recycling plastic bottles is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, not all plastic waste can be recycled only a certain type and under certain conditions. The latter leaves the sea as the only destination for such wastes. Once these bottles are in the sea, they are eaten by the aquamarine species. The latter could result in massive killing and the extinction of some animals such as sea turtles.
Sanitary
Water is considered to be the healthiest substance for Human life. Having water fountains in strategic areas on campus will enable students to stay hydrated and to drink clean filtrated water instead of tap water. Tap water may contain some harmful minerals due to the corrosion of pipes. According to a study done by an AUI faculty, tap water in Ifrane contains a large quantity of limestone (Calcaire). Daily consumption of these substances may lead to kidney failure and other health concerns in the long term.
Financially
Looking into the survey conducted by the Green House club at AUI, 40% of students drink seven bottles of water a week and others are between a range of four to six bottles a week. The price of one bottle of water is 6 DHS. In a week the money spent on these bottles of water is equivalent to one full meal at AUI restaurants. Therefore, using the water fountains to fill your bottle will make you save money, save the environment and your health.
Most individuals believe that there is little they can do to make a change. However, doing nothing is an even worse alternative than actually doing something, and we really want to be able to lead by example. The amount of plastic bottles that we throw away every day is staggering, and if we can start changing behaviors on campus, maybe this can create change from the bottom up. There really aren’t any reasons not to do it
Ayah Isbayenne, Secretary general of the Green House club
From AUI Chronicle, we call all students to take action to save our planet.